Heated air system for 3D printer

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and a method using the apparatus provides heated air in an additive manufacturing process for building a three-dimensional part. The method comprises providing a stream of flowable part material at an initial build level, the initial build level being positioned in and defining a horizontal plane wherein the stream of flowable material is being initially disposed on previously deposited part material. Heated air is provided at a selected temperature corresponding to the temperature of the stream of flowable part material such that the stream of flowable part material deposits on previously deposited part material in an adhering fashion thereby forming the three-dimensional part where in the heated air is provided in the horizontal plane of the initial build level.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure generally relates to a device and method for controllingbuild chamber temperature, and more specifically controlling buildchamber temperature in a device and system for three-dimensionalfabrication.

Additive manufacturing, also called 3D printing, is generally a processin which a three-dimensional (3D) object is built by adding material toform a 3D part rather than subtracting material as in traditionalmachining One basic operation of an additive manufacturing systemconsists of slicing a three-dimensional computer model into thin crosssections, translating the result into two-dimensional position data, andfeeding the data to control equipment which manufacture athree-dimensional structure in an additive build style. Additivemanufacturing entails many different approaches to the method offabrication, including fused deposition modeling, ink jetting, selectivelaser sintering, powder/binder jetting, electron-beam melting,electrophotographic imaging, and stereolithographic processes. Using oneor more additive manufacturing techniques, a three-dimensional solidobject of virtually any shape can be printed from a digital model of theobject by an additive manufacturing system, commonly referred to as 3Dprinter.

In a fused deposition modeling additive manufacturing system, a printedpart may be printed from a digital representation of the printed part inan additive build style by extruding a flowable part material alongtoolpaths. The part material is extruded through an extrusion tipcarried by a print head of the system, and is deposited as a sequence ofroads onto a substrate. The extruded part material fuses to previouslydeposited part material, and solidifies upon a drop in temperature. In atypical system where the material is deposited in planar layers, theposition of the print head relative to the substrate is incrementedalong an axis (perpendicular to the build plane) after each layer isformed, and the process is then repeated to form a printed partresembling the digital representation.

In fabricating printed parts by depositing layers of a part material,supporting layers or structures are typically built underneathoverhanging portions or in cavities of printed parts under construction,which are not supported by the part material itself. A support structuremay be built utilizing the same deposition techniques by which the partmaterial is deposited. A host computer generates additional geometryacting as a support structure for the overhanging or free-space segmentsof the printed part being formed. Support material is then depositedfrom a second nozzle pursuant to the generated geometry during theprinting process. The support material adheres to the part materialduring fabrication, and is removable from the completed printed partwhen the printing process is complete.

Some 3D manufacturing systems such as a FDM® fused deposition modeling3D printers manufactured and sold by Stratasys, Inc. of Eden Prairie,Minn. use a heated build chamber in order to mitigate thermal stressesand other difficulties that arise from the thermal expansion andcontraction of build materials during fabrication, using methods such asare disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,866,058. Certain of these systems havelimited power input to provide heat for extrusion while also providingheat to the build chamber. Such systems are commercially sold to operateat 15 amp and 120 volts which is the typical household electricalstandard in the United States. Thus the thermal environment of theheated build chamber needs to be regulated more efficiently to meet suchoperating power limitations to supply the needed heat at the build planewhile also maintaining a thermal profile conducive to the multiplelayers of build already produced and cooling in a manner that avoidsdeformation of the part being built and provides for the desiredincremental cooling of the build.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, this disclosure includes a method of providing heated airin an additive manufacturing process in a 3D printer for building a3-dimensional part. The method comprises providing a stream of flowablepart material at an initial build level, the initial build level beingpositioned in and defining a horizontal plane wherein the stream offlowable material is being initially disposed on previously depositedpart material. The method further includes providing heated air at aselected temperature corresponding to the temperature of the stream offlowable part material such that the stream of flowable part materialdeposits on previously deposited part material in an adhering fashionthereby forming the 3-dimensional part where in the heated air isprovided substantially in the horizontal plane of the initial buildlevel.

In another aspect, this disclosure includes an apparatus for providingheated air in a 3D printer for building a 3-dimensional part wherein theapparatus comprises a chamber having a platen on which a stream offlowable part material is to be initially deposited at an initial buildlevel. The platen is movable in a substantially vertical direction whilea stream of flowable part material is being disposed thereon wherein theinitial build level defines a substantially horizontal print plane. Asource for supplying and heating air is positioned such that heated airis supplied to the chamber in the substantially horizontal build planeand flows across the chamber in the substantially horizontal buildplane.

Definitions

Unless otherwise specified, the following terms as used herein have themeanings provided below:

The term “polymer” refers to a polymerized molecule having one or moremonomer species, and includes homopolymers and copolymers.

The terms “preferred” and “preferably” refer to embodiments that mayafford certain benefits, under certain circumstances. However, otherembodiments may also be preferred, under the same or othercircumstances. Furthermore, the recitation of one or more preferredembodiments does not imply that other embodiments are not useful, and isnot intended to exclude other embodiments from the inventive scope ofthe present disclosure.

The terms “at least one” and “one or more of” an element are usedinterchangeably, and have the same meaning that includes a singleelement and a plurality of the elements, and may also be represented bythe suffix “(s)” at the end of the element.

The terra “providing”, such as for “providing a support material”, whenrecited in the claims, is not intended to require any particulardelivery or receipt of the provided item. Rather, the term “providing”is merely used to recite items that will be referred to in subsequentelements of the claim(s), for purposes of clarity and ease ofreadability.

Unless otherwise specified, temperatures referred to herein are based onatmospheric pressure (i.e. one atmosphere).

Recitation of ranges of values herein are not intended to be limiting,referring instead individually to any and all values falling within therange, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value withinsuch a range is incorporated into the specification as if it wereindividually recited herein.

The words “about,” “approximately,” or the like, when accompanying anumerical value, are to be construed as indicating a deviation as wouldbe appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art to operatesatisfactorily for an intended purpose. Ranges of values and/or numericvalues are provided herein as examples only, and do not constitute alimitation on the scope of the described embodiments.

The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (“e.g.,” “suchas,” or the like) provided herein, is intended merely to betterilluminate the embodiments and does not pose a limitation on the scopeof the embodiments.

No language in the specification should be construed as indicating anyunclaimed element as essential to the practice of the embodiments.

In the following description, it is understood that terms such as“first,” “second,” “top,” “bottom,” “side,” “front,” “back,” and thelike, are words of convenience and are not to be construed as limitingterms.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of theinvention will be apparent from the following description of particularembodiments thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Thedrawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placedupon illustrating the principles of the devices and methods describedherein.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a 3D printer configured to print printed partsand support structures.

FIG. 2 is perspective view of the chamber of this disclosure.

FIG. 3 is an elevation view of the chamber illustrating the air intakeand exhaust systems of this disclosure.

FIG. 4 is an elevation view illustrating one of the air intake andexhaust systems.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the intake and exhaust port position inrelation to the print plane.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the chamber illustrating air flow.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a heat sink of this disclosure.

DESCRIPTION

The embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying figures, in which preferred embodimentsare shown. The foregoing may, however, be embodied in many differentforms and should not be construed as limited to the illustratedembodiments set forth herein. Rather, these illustrated embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will convey the scope to those skilledin the art.

All documents mentioned herein are hereby incorporated by reference intheir entirety. References to items in the singular should be understoodto include items in the plural, and vice versa, unless explicitly statedotherwise or clear from the text. Grammatical conjunctions are intendedto express any and all disjunctive and conjunctive combinations ofconjoined clauses, sentences, words, and the like, unless otherwisestated or clear from the context. Thus, the term “or” should generallybe understood to mean “and/or” and so forth.

The system of this disclosure is particularly useful in an apparatusthat builds three-dimensional objects in a heated environment using afused deposition process. However, other processes are also includablewithin the scope of this disclosure in which the system is power limitedas explained further below.

The present disclosure may be used with any suitable extrusion-basedadditive manufacturing system. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates a 3Dprinter 10 that has a substantially horizontal print plane where thepart being printed is indexed in a substantially vertical direction asthe part is printed in a layer by layer manner using two print heads18A, 18B. The illustrated 3D printer 10 uses two consumable assemblies12, where each consumable assembly 12 is an easily loadable, removable,and replaceable container device that retains a supply of a consumablefilament for printing with 3D printer 10. Typically, one of theconsumable assemblies 12 contains a part material filament, and theother consumable assembly 12 contains a support material filament, eachsupplying filament to one print head 18A or 18B. However, bothconsumable assemblies 12 may be identical in structure. Each consumableassembly 12 may retain the consumable filament on a wound spool, aspool-less coil, or other supply arrangement, such as discussed inSwanson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,403,658; Turley et al. U.S. Pat. No.7,063,285; Taatjes at al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,938,356; and Mannella et al.,U.S. Publication Nos. 8,985,497 and 9,073,263.

Each print head 18A and 18B is an easily loadable, removable andreplaceable device comprising a housing that retains a liquefierassembly 20 having a nozzle tip 14. Each print head 18A and 18B isconfigured to receive a consumable material, melt the material inliquefier assembly 20 to product a molten material, and deposit themolten material from a nozzle tip 14 of liquefier assembly 20. Examplesof suitable liquefier assemblies for print head 18 include thosedisclosed in Swanson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,004, 124; LaBossiere, etal., U.S. Pat. No. 7,604,470; Leavitt, U.S. Pat. No. 7,625,200; andBatchelder et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,439,665. Other suitable liquefierassemblies include those disclosed in U.S. Patent Publications Nos.2015/0096717 and 2015/0097053; and in PCT publication No. WO2016014543A.

Guide tube 16 interconnects consumable assembly 12 and print head 18A or18B, where a drive mechanism of print head 18A or 18B (or of 3D printer10) draws successive segments of the consumable filament from consumableassembly 12, through guide tube 16, to liquefier assembly 20 of printhead 18A or 18B. In this embodiment, guide tube 16 may be a component of3D printer 10, rather than a sub-component of consumable assemblies 12.In other embodiments, guide tube 16 is a sub-component of consumableassembly 12, and may be interchanged to and from system 10 with eachconsumable assembly 12. During a build operation, the successivesegments of consumable filament that are driven into print head 18A or18B are heated and melt in liquefier assembly 20. The melted material isextruded through nozzle tip 14 in a layer wise pattern to produceprinted parts.

3D printer 10 prints 3D parts or models and corresponding supportstructures (e.g., 3D part 22 and support structure 24) from the part andsupport material filaments, respectively, of consumable assemblies 12,using a layer-based, additive manufacturing technique. Suitable additivemanufacturing systems for system 10 include fused deposition modeling 3Dprinters developed by Stratasys, Inc., Eden Prairie, Minn. under thetrademarks “FDM”.

As shown, 3D printer 10 includes system casing 26, chamber 28, platen30, platen gantry 32, head carriage 34, and head gantry 36. Systemcasing 26 is a structural component of system 10 and may includemultiple structural sub-components such as support frames, housingwalls, and the like. In some embodiments, system casing 26 may includecontainer bays configured to receive consumable assemblies 12. Inalternative embodiments, the container bays may be omitted to reduce theoverall footprint of 3D printer 10. In these embodiments, consumableassembly 12 may stand proximate to system casing 26, while providingsufficient ranges of movement for guide tubes 16 and print heads 18 thatare shown schematically in FIG. 1.

Chamber 28 is an enclosed environment that contains platen 30 forprinting 3D part 22 and support structure 24. Chamber 28 may be heated(e.g., with circulating heated air) to reduce the rate at which the partand support materials solidify after being extruded and deposited (e.g.,to reduce distortions and curling). In alternative embodiments, chamber28 may be omitted and/or replaced with different types of buildenvironments. For example, 3D part 22 and support structure 24 may bebuilt in a build environment that is open to ambient conditions or maybe enclosed with alternative structures (e.g., flexible curtains).

Platen 30 is a platform on which 3D part 22 and support structure 24 areprinted in a layer-by-layer manner, and is supported by platen gantry32. In some embodiments, platen 30 may engage and support a buildsubstrate, which may be a tray substrate as disclosed in Dunn et al.,U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,309, fabricated from plastic, corrugated cardboard,or other suitable material, and may also include a flexible polymericfilm or liner, tape, or other disposable fabrication for adheringdeposited material onto the platen 30 or onto the build substrate.Platen gantry 32 is a gantry assembly configured to move platen 30 along(or substantially along) the vertical z-axis.

Head carriage 34 is a unit configured to receive and retain one or bothprint heads 18A and 18B, and is supported by head gantry 36. Headcarriage 34 preferably retains each print head 18A and 18B in a mannerthat prevents or restricts movement of the print head 18 relative tohead carriage 34 so that nozzle tip 14 remains in the x-y build plane,but allows nozzle tip 14 of the print head 18 to be controllably movedout of the x-y build plane through movement of at least a portion of thehead carriage 34 relative the x-y build plane (e.g., servoed, toggled,or otherwise switched in a pivoting manner).

In the shown embodiment, head gantry 36 is a robotic mechanismconfigured to move head carriage 34 (and the retained print heads 18Aand 18B) in (or substantially in) a horizontal x-y plane above platen30. Examples of suitable gantry assemblies for head gantry 36 includethose disclosed in Swanson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,872; and Comb etal., U.S. Pat. No. 9,108,360, where head gantry 36 may also supportdeformable baffles (not shown) that define a ceiling for chamber 28.Head gantry 36 may utilize any suitable bridge-type gantry or roboticmechanism for moving head carriage 34 (and the retained print heads 18),such as with one or more motors (e.g., stepper motors and encoded DCmotors), gears, pulleys, belts, screws, robotic arms, and the like.

In an alternative embodiment, platen 30 may be configured to move in thehorizontal x-y plane within chamber 28, and head carriage 34 (and printheads 18A and 18B) may be configured to move along the z-axis. Othersimilar arrangements may also be used such that one or both of platen 30and print heads 18A and 18B are moveable relative to each other. Platen30 and head carriage 34 (and print heads 18A and 18B) may also beoriented along different axes. For example, platen 30 may be orientedvertically and print heads 18A and 18B may print 3D part 22 and supportstructure 24 along the x-axis or the y-axis.

3D printer 10 also includes controller assembly 38, which may includeone or more control circuits (e.g., controller 40) and/or one or morehost computers (e.g., computer 42) configured to monitor and operate thecomponents of 3D printer 10. For example, one or more of the controlfunctions performed by controller assembly 38, such as performing movecompiler functions, can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware,and the like, or a combination thereof; and may include computer-basedhardware, such as data storage devices, processors, memory modules, andthe like, which may be external and/or internal to 3D printer 10.

Controller assembly 38 may communicate over communication line 44 withprint heads 18A and 18B, chamber 28 (e.g., with a heating unit forchamber 28), head carriage 34, motors for platen gantry 32 and headgantry 36, and various sensors, calibration devices, display devices,and/or user input devices. In some embodiments, controller assembly 38may also communicate with one or more of platen 30, platen gantry 32,head gantry 36, and any other suitable component of 3D printer 10. Whileillustrated as a single signal line, communication line 44 may includeone or more electrical, optical, and/or wireless signal lines, which maybe external and/or internal to 3D printer 10, allowing controllerassembly 38 to communicate with various components of 3D printer 10.

During operation, controller assembly 38 may direct platen gantry 32 tomove platen 30 to a predetermined height within chamber 28. Controllerassembly 38 may then direct head gantry 36 to move head carriage 34 (andthe retained print heads 18A and 18B) around in the horizontal x-y planeabove chamber 28. Controller assembly 38 may also direct print heads 18Aand 18B to selectively draw successive segments of the consumablefilaments from consumable assembly 12 and through guide tubes 16,respectively.

While, FIG. 1 illustrates an additive manufacturing system, commonlyreferred to as a 3D printer, 10 where a build plane is in asubstantially horizontal x-y plane and the platen 30 is moved in a zdirection substantially normal to the substantially horizontal x-y buildplane, the present disclosure is not limited to a 3D printer 10 asillustrated in FIG. 1

The build chamber of this disclosure is particularly suitable for fuseddeposition modeling 3D printers that have been made for 15 amp service(at approximately 110-120 volts alternating current (vac)) which is atypical electrical outlet in a U.S. home. This power limitation for afused deposition modeling 3D printer must supply power to both run andheat the print head, to heat the build chamber and provide power to thevarious other powered components of the system. In view of this inputpower limitation, it is desirable to make all the components asefficient as possible in terms of power consumption.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, heated air according to this disclosure isprovided within chamber 28 in a unique, energy efficient manner Thechamber 28 has an interior 101 defined by four walls, two opposing sidewalls 100 and 102, a back wall 104 and a front wall 106. The front wall106 has a door (not shown) that is removable or positioned on a hingemechanism for providing access into the interior 101 through dooropening 110. The print heads 18A and 18B are positioned at the top 112of the chamber 28, the print heads 18A and 18B not shown for clarity inFIG. 2 but illustrated in position in FIG. 1.

Air intake and exhaust systems 114 and 116 are positioned on exteriorsides 118 of opposing side walls 100 and 102. Only one air intake andexhaust system 114 will be described since both air intake and exhaustsystems 114 and 116 are identical in construction. The air intake andexhaust system 114 includes a blower motor and blower 120 that directsair through ductwork 126 to a heating element 124. Sidewalls 100 and 102both include an intake port 126 and exhaust port 128 disposed insidewalls 100 and 102 such that intake port 126 provides access to airfor blower motor and blower 120 and exhaust port 128 provides access forair heated by the heating element 124 into the interior 101 of thechamber 28. A temperature sensor 129 is provided in the ductwork 126which governs the amount of heat produced by the heating element 124,thereby controlling the temperature of the heated air to be providedinto the chamber 28. The exhaust ports and the intake ports arepositioned at about the build plane 130 as illustrated in FIG. 5.

The heating element 124 includes a heating component that provides a lowtemperature gradient in the range of approximately 200-300° F. Onepreferred heating component is a Mica heating element. Other suitableheating elements include a Kapton® heating element which is a polyimideobtainable from E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company of WilmingtonDelaware, and a silicone heating element. Other suitable materials inwhich a current flowing through the material results in the resistivityof the material increasing rapidly, thereby producing a desired heatoutput at a lower material temperature. For example, the Mica heatingelement of this disclosure produces sufficient heat at a temperaturerange of approximately 200-300° F. One other aspect of the heater ofthis disclosure is that the heating element is attached (conducts heat)to a heat transfer element having a large surface area. For example, analuminum heat sink having approximately at least 150 square inches ofsurface area and in one example was 150 to 160 square inches of surfacearea was found to be very suitable for providing sufficient heat to theair flowing into the chamber 12. An exemplary heat sink of thisdisclosure is illustrated in FIG. 7 at 140. The heat sink is made ofaluminum and includes a plurality of fins 142 attached integral with awall 144. The blower motor and blower 120 includes a fan of a squirrelcage configuration approximately 3 inches in diameter and ½ inch indepth.

In addition, both the exhaust ports 128 and the intake ports 126 of eachsidewall 100 and 102 are located in substantially the same horizontalplane and are positioned in opposing sidewalls, with intake ports 126being disposed in diagonally opposed positions on their respectivesidewalls. The combination of heated air being provided via thediagonally positioned intake ports 126 positioned on opposing sidewallsand positioned in the same horizontal plane as the build plane 130(shown in broken lines) along with the outlet ports also beingpositioned on opposing sidewalls in the same horizontal plane providesheated air to the build plane 130 in a very efficient manner as bestillustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6. Preferably the air intake and exhaustsystems 114 and 116 are the only sources of heated air for the chamber28. One reason for this preference is that the disclosure herein isespecially suitable for those additive manufacturing systems that arepower limited such as for 15 amp service at 110-120 vac.

In addition, the heated air being provided to the build plane 130 asindicated by arrows 136 is recirculated back into the air intake andexhaust systems 114 and 116 as shown by arrows 138. The air is reheatedto a set point temperature selected for the particular polymer beingused to build the part. It is also preferred that the air is circulatedat a gentle rate so that the air circulation does not affect the partbeing built. It will be appreciated that the air is being circulated atthe build plane 130 and the part being built 132 has not completelysolidified. A strong air flow may deform the part 132 at that point, andmay also disturb the thermal temperature gradient, causing an increasedneed for additional heating energy to be drawn and exceed the 15 Amppower limitation. In one example in which the platen was approximately14 inches in width, the air flow was approximately 2.5 meters per secondat the exhaust port 128. One goal of the air movement is to provide asuniform a temperature as possible throughout the area of the level atwhich the build is being initiated 130. Recirculating and therebyreheating the air provides further energy efficiency since air does nothave to be heated from an ambient temperature.

It has also been discovered that providing the heated air and exhaustingsuch air at approximately the same horizontal plane at about the buildplane 130, provides a decreasing temperature profile downwardly alongthe part 132 sufficient to permit proper cooling of the part beingbuilt. If the temperature profile within the chamber 28 is notappropriate for the polymer being used to build the part, then theunderlying structure may result in deformation.

As discussed above, the 3D part is manufactured in a layerwise manner byextruding a flowable part material along tool paths. The part materialis extruded and is deposited as a sequence of roads on a substrate insubstantially an x-y plane. The extruded part material fuses topreviously deposited part material, and solidifies upon a drop intemperature. As roads of polymer are added, the platen is lowered,thereby moving the part to a cooler temperature zone of the chamber. Adecrease in temperature downwardly along the part 132 being builtfacilitates proper solidification of the underlying previously extrudedroads while additional extruded roads are being added on top. Theincremental cooling found in the downward thermal profile of thisdisclosure is aided by the air recirculation at the build plane 130.Recirculating the air with a goal to minimize any heated air fromflowing downward within the chamber 28 along the part 132 being builthelps provide the decreasing temperature profile which in turn providesthe appropriate solidification of the build material. No additionalheating or cooling has been found to be necessary using the system ofthis disclosure.

In addition, although the embodiment of the chamber 28 is illustrated inthe drawings as an enclosure, this is not necessary. For otherapplications, the chamber 28 may be open (without a door) or evenwithout a back wall or complete sidewalls. Providing heated air only atthe build plane 130 in the manner herein described has been found to bethe important factor.

Although the subject of this disclosure has been described withreference to several embodiments, workers skilled in the art willrecognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the disclosure. In addition, any featuredisclosed with respect to one embodiment may be incorporated in anotherembodiment, and vice-versa.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of providing heated air in an additivemanufacturing process for building a 3D part, the method comprising:providing a stream of flowable part material in a build plane, theinitial build level being positioned in and defining a horizontal planewherein the stream of flowable material is being initially disposed onpreviously deposited part material; and providing heated air at aselected temperature corresponding to the temperature of the stream offlowable part material such that the stream of flowable part materialdeposits on previously deposited part material in an adhering fashionthereby forming the 3-dimensional part where in the heated air isprovided in the horizontal plane of the initial build level.
 2. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the heated air is being provided from opposingdirections in the horizontal plane of the initial build level.
 3. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the stream of flowable part material at aninitial build level is within an enclosure and exhausting the heated airfrom the enclosure at the horizontal plane of the initial build level.4. The method of claim 3 wherein substantially all of the heated airbeing provided is exhausted at the horizontal plane of the initial buildlevel.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein an air blower and heater arepositioned on the enclosure and further comprising reheating theexhausted air to the selected temperature and providing the reheated airto the stream of flowable part material at an initial build level. 6.The method of claim 5 and further monitoring air temperature of theexhausted air prior to reheating and reheating the air based on themonitoring air temperature.
 7. The method of claim 4 wherein adecreasing vertical air temperature profile develops along the3-dimensional part being built.
 8. The method of claim 1 and furthercomprising: providing electrical power through a 15 ampere power supplyfor providing power to heat the air and to provide power to form thestream of flowable part material.
 9. An apparatus for providing heatedair in an additive manufacturing process for building a 3D part, theapparatus comprising: a platen on which a stream of flowable partmaterial is to be initially deposited at an initial build level, theplaten being movable in a substantially vertical direction while astream of flowable part material is being disposed thereon wherein theinitial build level defines a substantially horizontal plane; and asource for supplying and heating air, the source being positioned suchthat heated air is supplied to the stream of flowable part material inthe substantially horizontal plane at the initial build level.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 9 and further comprising a housing having aninterior, the platen being disposed within the interior of the housingmaintain the initial build level within the housing.
 11. The apparatusof claim 10 wherein the source for supplying and heating comprises anintake port and exhaust port both in fluid communication with theinterior of the housing, a heating source for heating air and ductingfor providing a passage for airflow from the intake port to the exhaustport and past the heating source.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11 whereinboth the intake port and exhaust port are positioned such that heatedair is supplied to the stream of flowable part material in thesubstantially horizontal plane at the initial build level.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 12 and further comprising at least two sources forsupplying and heating air wherein the at least two sources arepositioned on opposite facing walls of the housing, wherein eachsource's intake port and exhaust port are positioned such that theheated air is supplied to the stream of flowable part material in thesubstantially horizontal plane at the initial build level.
 14. Theapparatus of claim 13 wherein the intake ports of the at least twosources are positioned diagonally on the oppositely facing walls of thehousing.
 15. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the source for supplyingand heating air is the only heating source for supplying heated air tothe interior of the housing.
 16. The apparatus of claim 9 and furthercomprising a 15 ampere power supply for supplying power to theapparatus.
 17. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the source for supplyingand heating air comprises a heating element that provides heat at atemperature range of approximately 200 to 300° F.
 18. The apparatus ofclaim 17 wherein the heating element comprises mica, silicone, or apolyimide.
 19. The apparatus of claim 17 and further comprising a heatsink of at least approximately 150 square inches of surface area.